A Strong Fortitude
by Droyce Medis
Summary: A man locked in conflicts he doesn't support just wants to find the love he was forced to leave behind in New Mombassa. Please Review
1. Delusions and Grandeur

Chapter 1

I was on a routine patrol somewhere in central Africa. The command said the covenant wouldn't be attacking New Mombassa since it was wiped out. I knew there would be no point, I remembered that day. I was in the outer suburbs and heard about a small fleet but I wasn't worried. It then got so blurred as if my memory was tampered with that day. I remember a ship flying above the city and hundreds of phantoms instantly appearing everywhere. With building constantly falling and cars being thrown I thought it was more like hell than Earth. We had no idea which city the covenant would attack but Mombassa was the only one even touched. Only a few thousand were able to escape before the air was too filled with pelicans and phantoms. Between our bombs and their fire I didn't know which side was causing more damage. I was one of the lucky ones who got into a pelican and was sent to a safe house for the surviving civilians. Everyone who stayed in the city died, either by the initial attack, the blast the covenant released when they retreated, or the covenant that stayed to finish the job.

I looked around, there were only ten marines with me. They too were kicking in the dust or toying with their guns. I sat down and pulled out a deck of cards, I set up a small game of solitaire. I knew that if I played for awhile it would help me relax but I had the feeling I could never relax. Earth had just settled down but I knew that something big was coming, good or bad I would've gladly welcomed it. I ended my first game in a few minutes but the next one took a lot longer and the sun was fully covered up by clouds. Rain had been a very common thing lately and I just thought it was the war messing things up in the atmosphere. I didn't really care about the rain, it always calmed me down and helped me think through things a lot better. Unfortunately, all the rains been doing lately is reminding me of Janet. Janet was the reason I hated leaving Mombassa, she lived in the suburbs that I was protecting. No matter what I did I couldn't forget her, I fell asleep wishing she was beside me and I wake up willing myself to go back to sleep so I can continue my dreams which are always about Janet.

I laid on the dirt and rock and was pleased to feel drops of rain bounce of my body. I wanted to fall asleep right there but I knew I would just be woken up and disturbed in the middle of a great dream by the other marines. I found that even though the memories of Mombassa were blurred I could still remember all those times I snuck out of my post and was welcomed into Janet's house for dinner and a few movies. I remember when I accidentally fell asleep and the captain threatened to transfer me out of Mombassa. Even though I couldn't sneak off to Janet's house I was still able to talk to her. One time she even came out to my guard tower and snuck up behind me. After kissing her for a few minutes she sat down beside me and we talked until dawn started to creep up on us and she was forced to sneak out before my replacement came. All those stolen nights kept me from seeing what was really going on around me. I've heard about soldiers who become to reliant on an object and when it disappears they're driven crazy because they can't cope. I finally understood how but this was no object, it was Janet's great smile, soft hazel eyes, lips that always seemed inviting, and her light brown hair that always smelled too amazing to believe. I always wished I was a high enough rank to figure out where the rest of the camps were. The one I was shipped to only contained thirty elderly couples shipped from the senior centers in New Mombassa.

The rain was getting heavier but I couldn't get up, something was holding me down. There was a strange pressure on my chest when I looked down I saw my shirt sinking as if there was a large foot on it. I was looking above me when a body started to materialize on top of me. It was an elite in black armor brandishing a fearsome looking energy sword. He smiled and raised his sword to strike me down. I quickly pulled my dagger out and shoved it into his thigh where the armor was thinnest. A quick growl and the elite backed off and pulled the dagger out. Blue blood poured onto the wet sand and I decided to capitalize on the moment. I dove over where I left my gun and lifted up an 8-gauge shotgun. I blasted the elites chest and watched him fall. The powerful shell had pierced straight through his armor and hit where a human heart would be. I walked up and kicked the body, it was dead.

I looked around and was horrified by what I saw. Elites were materializing behind every soldier and slaughtering them all. I grabbed a battle rifle and started shooting the nearest elite. Soldiers were starting to realize what was happening and they were attacking the invisible killers. I quickly saw that the rain was bouncing off the elites and was making them easier to see. Nevertheless, the elites were still able to slaughter many soldiers. We were so close to losing when a warthog jumped over the nearest sand dune and drove by the elites. I could see the gunner firing into the mass of invisible beasts and a few fell. I was able to use the distraction to toss a grenade into the monsters. The shock sent two flying and the shrapnel killed another one. The warthog drove out of sight and the elites turned on us. I started opening up on the elites along with the few remaining marines. They started getting closer and when they were close enough to lunge for us the warthog came back and run over the remaining ones. Another warthog pulled up and I saw it was a transport. I jumped in the passenger seat and turned to the driver.

"What's going on?" I shouted over the rain. The driver started to follow the assault warthog as it jumped another dune.

"The camps were attacked last night and the ones that survived are being taken to the safest place we can think of!" he was shouting over the rain but it was still hard to hear what he said. I looked up and noticed three pelicans flying over them. You could only see them because of the large spotlights at the front which were on full blast and pointed towards the ground.

"Where is this place?" I asked rather quietly and when the driver turned to me I repeated it much louder. He shrugged and pointed at the front warthog.

"He's the only one that knows," he said and he went back to driving. I sank down into the seat and thought of who had survived the attacks. I soon thought of Janet and wondered if she would've survived. She was tough, she probably did. As I thought this I realized that I was going to the same place that she was.

I was thinking of how we could steal some more good memories out of this war when a pelican above us was illuminated in a green blast. As I looked up I saw five purple trails carving through the sky. The back hatches of the two remaining pelicans must have opened because a few seconds later two machine guns were firing into the air. A purple explosion meant that one of the banshees had been hit. The gunner on the warthog in front of us started firing into the air as well but he was quickly forced to duck behind the gun when a ball of plasma almost hit his shoulder. One of the passengers on the transport had a rocket launcher and he fired it into the air. The banshees scattered but the rocket pieced through the rain and swerved to chase one of them down. After a short wait a blast signaled that the rocket hit its target. The three remaining banshees flew away and the marines cheered. The two pelicans dropped the loads they were carrying and dropped the men it needed to fill them up.

A few minutes later there were two more assault warthogs with us and we were charging through the sand. The only opposition we met was a very unlucky group of brutes that were mowed over and we had fled the scene in a matter of minutes. I was rather sleepy by the time we crossed five more dunes and I silently let myself doze off. I was hoping I could slide into some of my amazing dreams but I was completely shocked at what was awaiting me.

I was walking into a camp and was happy to see who was there. I was rushing through looking for a checkup that could tell me where Janet was I looked for hours but was unable to find anything except for marines and survivors I had no will to meet. When I was just about to give up looking I heard a lady counting people.

"1-2-3-4- where's Janet?" the lady said as she turned from face to face. I perked my head up in interest.

"She was killed when we were running towards the van," a man said in a shaky voice. I quickly jumped up and ran over to the people.

"Are you talking about this Janet?" I asked as I held up a picture of Janet. The lady who was counting surveyed the picture through glasses and then looked straight into my face and nodded.

"Are you family of hers?" the lady asked while not separating her gaze from mine. Without thinking I nodded and the lady's eyes started to tear up.

"I'm so sorry, she was a very sweet woman," the lady said as I backed away and ran toward a bed. Before I reached the bed everything turned black and I had an odd feeling in my gut. The air started to come back and a totally different scene started to assemble itself.

I was in a church filled with men in tuxedos and women in black dresses. I saw a wooden coffin with gold handles and a black lid. The priest was standing behind a podium with a golden cross on it. I desperately looked around to find out who's funeral it was and I soon saw a picture. It was, of course, a picture of Janet but the picture itself looked familiar. I pulled the picture of Janet out that was in my pocket and saw that it was an exact copy. The picture showed me and her standing beside each other and smiling into the camera. I remember now that it was my brother who took the picture and developed it for us. That was another reason for keeping the picture because my brother died two days after he developed this photo. I could feel tears stinging my eyes so I quickly looked up at the priest.

"Let us now pray for the soul of Janet but also for the man in the picture for he was shot yesterday in a conflict with the infamous covenant. May there rest in peace in our lords paradise and may they stay locked in eternal love," I could clearly hear what he was saying but I couldn't believe it. As cheers of amen roared throughout the crowd I jumped to my feet in disbelief. The red carpets of the church were turning to lava that was glowing and the preachers black cloaks soon turned into fur. He sprouted black wings and his legs quickly turned into hooves. Horns could be seen on top of his head and his skin turned a fiery red.

"Welcome to hell!" he roared as the grievers in the funeral soon turned into tortured souls reaping their punishments in eternal damnation. I looked around and Janet was standing beside me. I tried to touch her just so I could see she was real. I found she was solid and I looked into her eyes. They were the same shade but they seemed distant. I hugged her and my hands suddenly went through her. I looked into her face and saw that it was a silvery color. She was crying and I couldn't stand it. When I reached my hand up to brush the tears away my hand went through her. Her white face looked right at me and I looked into her eyes which were getting hard to see because she was fading away. I could feel myself sobbing but I couldn't stop. I had no need because she was all that mattered and she was slipping away from me.

"How could you do this to us," she said through a shrill voice that hurt my ears. I tried to stop crying so I could see her better but the tears kept coming.

"I'm sorry!" I screamed over the tortured voices of the departed souls. All I cared about was her and she was leaving me.

"I tried my whole life to stay with you and now because of you we're spending eternity separated," she said coldly, I tried to yell at her. I wanted nothing more for her to know how much I loved her but before the words came to my mouth she was gone. My knees gave out and I fell to the charred ground. She was gone and I couldn't do anything about it. Never again could I see her face. As soon as this thought rushed into my mind I jumped to my feet and dug through my pockets. I was still wearing my tuxedo so the picture must be there.

However, what I pulled out was not the picture I expected. I looked down and saw a horrid scene. A soldier was laying on his back with burn marks down his body. His shirt had fallen off from the massacre that happened to his body. I thought this was my own body but when I looked down I saw my brothers face, twisted into a look of pure agony. I quickly through the picture into a boiling red lake but soon two more appeared beside me. I grabbed them and tore them to shreds. I felt a weight drop into my pocket and when I reached in there and pulled it out their were four pictures in my hand. I gasped and dropped them to the ground. Soon hundreds were falling out of the sky and everywhere I looked I could see my brothers face in pure pain.

I sat up and hit the edge of my head on the dashboard of a warthog. I was still on my way to the camp and the driver was looking at me.

"You okay?" he asked, I looked at him and nodded with relief. Then a horrible thought hit me, what if she was dead.


	2. At Last

Remember to review, the more feedback I get the better I can make the story.

Chapter 2

I had just had the worst dream of my life, the details were becoming dimmer the harder I tried to remember them but one thing was incredibly vivid. I remembered Janet's face getting whiter and whiter until it faded. Just thinking of this shocking memory made me scared to go to the camp. I knew that there was a chance that my fears were reality but there was also a chance that the love of my life was sitting, alone, in a camp for me. I had a feeling that she missed me just as much as I missed her.

The warthog was getting closer because I could see some lights on the horizon. The desert cold was turning the rain into sleet and I had to pull up my collar to shield the bottom half of my face. By the time I could see the towers that the lights were standing on my cheeks were aching from the cold and the rest of my body was stiff. When the warthogs pulled up to the camp all I saw was a thirty foot cement wall and a gate that looked more like the doors to a garage.

After waiting for a few minutes the gates were slid to the side by a few marines and the warthogs drove into the warehouse that the vehicles were kept. I saw the two pelicans fly over the gate and go towards the hangar. I jumped out of the warthog and walked through the small doors in the side of the warehouse. I emerged into a small street that passed by small tents that were currently alive with the sound of people sleeping. I walked down the street and couldn't help but occasionally glance at an open tent but I learned not to when someone walking behind me nudged me and told me not to abuse my power. I grunted my apologies and slid down another street so I didn't have to be followed.

I was searching for three hours and the rain stopped. I knew my luck was raising and I would find her soon. After a few more hours the clouds parted and the sun rose. I was becoming too tired to walk so I was going to find the barracks when I saw a line of people walking off a bus. I stopped and anxiously watched them come in. At the front was an elderly couple sharing an orange jacket that was draped over their backs. The second person in the line was a teenage boy who looked more like a thug. The man behind him had a grey beard that went halfway down flannel jacket. The last person to walk off the bus was a woman who looked around Janet's age but she had coal black hair and her eyes seemed dark and empty even from ten feet away. My heart sank but I should've known I wouldn't have been lucky enough to find her on the first day in the camp.

I was walking to the front desk to figure out where the barracks was when I saw two people already there. I grudgingly got in line and waited. I was in such a bad mood I was only looking at my feet the entire time. I didn't look up until the line moved and I saw the person who was at the desk. The first thing I noticed about her was the hair that was not only the same color but it had the same look of straight hair that seemed to wave in the light. I grabbed her arm and she spun around rather angrily, I was amazed when I looked into her eyes. They were definitely her eyes, she noticed that she was staring at me as well because she practically screamed. She wrapped her arms around me so tightly that I grunted in pain.

"Sorry," she said even though she didn't loosen up at all. I could care less about the pain, as long as I was able to hold her in my arms again. As long as I could run my hands through her silky hair, she could squeeze me as hard as she liked. I leaned in and kissed her forehead and I felt a tear bounce off my shirt and hit my arm. It felt like years before she let go of me and looked into my eyes. It was in these moments that I was glad she was only a few inches shorter than me because I didn't want to crane my neck a lot.

"So where are you staying?" it was all I could say before I had yet another urge to hold onto her. She smiled at me and pointed down the street. She started down the street and I realized I had to go because she was holding onto my hand with no intention of letting go. We walked down the same street where I was hit by the guy and she pulled me into the empty tent I was looking in when I was hit. It wasn't small, about the size of a one room cabin. She let go of my hand long enough to close the tent and then the urge instantly hit me and I had to act on it.

Once she turned around I put one arm on her waist and the other was rubbing her cheek. This didn't seem like a large surprise to her because instantly her hands were around my back again. I couldn't remember the last time I embraced her like this and I was happy she was happy to go with the flow. Our kiss lasted until I had another urge to just stare at her. I didn't know how I was going to cope because when I was kissing her I wanted to see her beautiful face, but when I was looking at her I wanted to put her in my arms and never let go. I stopped kissing her just to look into her face again and I breathed in the view, she was smiling and looking at me. I admired every detail of her from her hazel eyes that always cheered me up down to her gorgeous smile that always seemed to knock me down. I went back to kissing her but she stopped this time.

"I thought you were dead when I heard they blew up New Mombassa. At first I thought you would've left at your first chance but I wasn't sure," she said this all rather quickly and I knew she was just as wrapped with worry as I was.

"I wanted to keep them out of the suburbs long enough for you to escape. I left only after they refused to transport anyone else out," I said. It seemed that she was happy with this response because she smiled.

"I love you," she said as she leaned her head against my shoulders.

"I love you too," I whispered into her ear and I saw one silent tear slide down her cheek. I was suddenly struck with a desire to sleep but I didn't want to leave her arms, let alone the tent. She suddenly let go and went to sit on a pile of blankets and I stood and stared at her. She smiled and signaled for me to sit by her. I sat down and leaned up against a trunk. She smiled and I felt a weight suddenly hit me. I looked down and saw her sitting on my lap. She leaned her head against mine and I felt as if the world could end and I wouldn't care. Her body heat quickly over took me and before I could stop my self I fell asleep.

I woke up to see that Janet had not left my lap and she was now silently breathing onto my shoulder. I didn't even need to dream last night because I had everything I needed right now. I was about to get up when Janet's eyes opened and she looked around and stared into my face. I smiled at her and she wriggled around for a little bit till she seemed to find a comfortable spot. She laughed when she saw my discomfort because her elbow had suddenly dug into my side. She slowly got off my lap and walked to the flap of the tent. I had gotten up and realized how stiff my back was from sleeping against a trunk.

"I need to change so you need to leave," she said with a small smile. I laughed and turned my back. She laughed and I heard the trunk snap open. I was completely shocked that I wasn't pushed out the flap but it didn't really matter. I would much rather work my way into that stage than sneak or force my way in. I didn't know whether that was the soldier in me or the fact that I had an abusive dad who always told me to earn what I wanted whenever he caught me doing something he told me not to do; this usually followed a horrible beating that left me bloody but it still left an impression, that is also the reason my reflexes are extremely sensitive and the slightest motion of someone around me will send my hand to my gun and my fist to their gut. I heard the trunk shut and decided it was safe to turn around and I saw her sitting on it, fully dressed.

"I said leave," she said with a playful tone in her voice. I smiled and walked up to her. She stood up and kissed me twice, the third kiss held for what seemed like a century and I could barely breathe. I felt surprisingly light and knew that I could have easily held it for much longer but she finally stopped and looked deep into my eyes.

"I can't cook you breakfast," she said finally and I smiled. She had such a wide smile I thought I could count all her teeth. I didn't even notice my hunger through this perfect world that I now had. I gave her a little squeeze and she walked out of the tent. I took a quick sweep of the tent and soaked in the memories of last night. I was standing where I had embraced her beauty for so long last night that it could have been hours and I wouldn't have noticed.

"You coming honey?" I could hardly believe that she had said those words if I hadn't turned around at that moment to leave. I followed her outside and the sun seemed to momentarily scorch my eyes but I soon adjusted and looked around. It seemed a lot less crowded than it had seemed last night and I now realized how large the tents were. I was looking around so much and I seemed to forget that I was following Janet and when I looked up I saw that she was gone. I gave a little start when she came up from behind me and looked at me.

"I'm sorry I just remembered a dream I had," I said as I rubbed her cheek. Her milky skin seemed to glimmer in the light. She smiled a little and coughed.

"Was it about me by any chance," she said this as I felt a blush rush into her smooth face. Her white face flashed through my mind again and I decided to keep that part out.

"It was about my brother," I said and I felt her blush recede. She wrapped her hand around mine and looked into my eyes. There was a little too much understanding in her eyes as she welled up in tears. I knew what she was thinking, that day had been a tragedy for both of us. I remember that she was the one who held onto me and wouldn't let go at his funeral. That was the day we realized that we were meant for each other. It apparently takes a dead brother and your girlfriend to hug you all night while you devised one hundred different ways to blame yourself for what happened. I looked deep in her eyes that night and told her that I loved her and that I couldn't be without her. I didn't expect for her to feel the same way but she did.

"I'm sorry you had to be reminded of that. Are you feeling okay?" she asked as she saw the color drain from my face. Until now I had forgotten all about the dreams specifics but it all flooded into memory now. Everything from hearing about her death, to her funeral, to the fateful hell scene. I tried to nod but it made me dizzy and I fell to the ground. She screamed and helped me up, I tried to pat her on the shoulder to tell her I'm okay but I vomited all over the ground. She helped me up again and supported me back into the tent. She laid me on the bed and started fretting over me. She was feeling my forehead, then rummaging through the trunk looking for some aspirin and bottled water. I was trying to tell her I'd be okay and she should go and get something to eat but my words were quickly drown out by her muttering about no one being sick while she wasn't there to take care of them. As she gave me some pills to take and put a bottle of water beside me she said that she wasn't very hungry and she wanted to stay beside me.

I shivered very rapidly for a few seconds and she turned around and gave me a blanket from deep in the trunk. I watched her from under the blanket, she paced up and down the room until she saw me watching her and she smiled rather fondly at me. I was able to return it before I yawned and slipped into a shaky sleep. That was disturbed a few times by her rubbing my head and kissing me softly on the cheeks.

I didn't know what time it was when I woke up, all I knew was there was no light shining through the canvas roof. The curiosity of what time it was left my mind when I tried to get up and saw that Janet was laying beside me with her arm around my waist. I had an urge to wake her up but I had no idea when she went to sleep so I didn't want to make her cranky. The last time I saw her upset was after my brothers funeral and I hated the look on her face that day. All I knew was that I had to quickly change clothes because mine were drenched with sweat and smelled of sick. I snuck off to the trunk and wondered if any of my clothes from her house were in their. As I lifted up the lid I saw a small rucksack on one side and a pink one on the other. I guessed that something of mine would be in the green one. I admired her organization as I unzipped the bag and found two pairs of shirts and some pants. I found a pair of boxers and three pairs of socks and quickly got changed before she woke up but when I was taking my shirt off I turned around and she was sitting on the trunk and looking at me.

"Go ahead, I love the shows in this part of Africa," She said through a few outbreaks of laughter I smiled as I put the shirt on and she walked outside. I followed and was shocked to see her crying. I walked up to her and put my arm over her shoulders. She turned to me and put her head in my shoulder.

"I can't stop thinking of your brother," I knew what she felt, I thought I was lucky that she understood what I felt because we both lost most of our family and when my brother died that was the last of mine. Neither of us had any living relatives close enough to consider so we stuck together with that knowledge. I think it helped us understand our loneliness and even strengthen our love. I was dwelling in these thoughts when the alarm signaled throughout the base. The screeching wale sent every happy memory out of my mind and put one idea into my head, separation. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving her and not having her touch but I also didn't want her anywhere near conflict. I held onto her knowing that I would be forced into conflict but suddenly we were both pushed into a van by a soldier telling us that we would be okay. I was in confusion until I looked at Janet who was pointing at my shirt. I looked down and saw the shirt I had changed into, I was confused until I realized something. I was in pedestrian clothing.


End file.
